In the assembly of products in a production line, small articles are sometimes individually introduced into receiving apertures of larger components. For example, in assembling a telephone, small compression springs are each inserted into one of an array of apertures comparable to an array of push buttons on a telephone set. A problem is to insert such light articles in a rapid, positive and economical manner.
Initially, each spring was manually inserted into an aperture in a funnel block having the desired array of apertues. The funnel block was then aligned with the telephone set and a fully array of springs were transferred to the set. More recently, attempts were made to vibratory load the springs into such funnel blocks. However, the springs are so light and responsive to vibration that such loading is fraught with difficulty. Even assuming that the loading could be accomplished by vibratory methods, each array of springs must then be transferred to a set. Consequently, it would seem better to introduce the springs directly into a telephone set.
Assuming such articles contain magnetic material, i.e., material which is attracted to a magnet, it would seem advantageous to magnetically manipulate the parts to achieve the assembly. One problem is that articles behave differently in a magnetic field depending upon the complexity of their structural elements. For example, if an article is solid and elongate, like an iron reed, its behavior is predictable. In a field having linear and coparallel flux lines, the reed will become oriented parallel to the flux lines. The behavior of articles having complex structural elements is not so predictable. For example, an elongate, helically coiled spring is found to become oriented transversely of linear, coparallel flux lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,311,259 to F. J. Brown discloses a system for magnetically dispensing from a tube, relatively heavy articles having a simple magnetic structure. The system induces repelling forces into articles at their contacting ends. The pressure of articles in a file holds such articles when a dual magnet assembly is indexed to separate and dispense a leading article. It is advantageous to have a system which is more readily adaptable to articles regardless of weight or magnetic structure so that file pressure and/or induced poles are of minor importance.